CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, SC (WSVN) — A mother that reported her baby missing in South Carolina is now in custody after the child was found dead.
According to the Chesterfield County Sheriff’s Office, the mother claimed a man abducted her 1-year-old daughter as she walked to her mailbox around 2 p.m. Tuesday, Fox Carolina reports.
The woman told deputies a man in a gold and tan SUV pulled up and jumped out of the vehicle, punching her several times in the head before grabbing the baby and driving away.
An Amber Alert was issued for 1-year-old Harlee Lane Lewis, but the child was found dead just two hours later in a field near her home, Sheriff Jay Brooks said.
According to Brooks, the child was “hidden inside a diaper box” in the field about 1,000 yards away from where she lived. Investigators did not release details on how the baby died.
The woman has not been identified, but the sheriff told WPDE they no longer believe the child was abducted and say the mother is now their primary suspect.
“We canceled the Amber Alert because we don’t think there was a kidnapping,” Brooks said.
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